Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Thursday, August 04, 2016

Tax Meat Until It’s Too Expensive To Eat, New UN Report Suggests

Meat should be taxed at the wholesale level to raise the price and
deter consumption, says a new report from the UN’s International
Research Panel (IRP). This will (supposedly) save the environment and
prevent global warming. “I think it is extremely urgent,” said Professor Maarten Hajer of
Utrecht University in the Netherlands, lead author of the report. “All
of the harmful effects on the environment and on health needs to be
priced into food products.” Hajer and other members of the IRP assert that livestock creates 14.5
percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate
change. Sneak the tax up on people Rather than taxing the meat at the retail level (in supermarkets and
shops), Hajer recommended taxing it at the wholesale level. “We think
it’s better to price meats earlier in the chain, it’s easier,” said
Hajer. “The evidence is accumulating that meat, particularly red meat, is
just a disaster for the environment,” agrees Rachel Premack, a columnist
for The Washington Post’s Wongblog. “Agriculture today accounts for for one-third of global greenhouse
gas emissions that promote global warming,” says Premack, “and half of
those agriculture emissions come from livestock.” “Agriculture consumes 80 percent of water in the US – most of that
being for meat, says Premack. “… For a kilogram of red meat, you need
considerably more water than for plant products.” “Meanwhile, Denmark is considering a recommendation from its ethics council that all red meats should be taxed,” Premack continues...more